


Family Relations

by Greenlady, Jen Hall (Greenlady)



Series: Twenty/Twenty [10]
Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-06-26 06:15:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 14,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15657429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenlady/pseuds/Greenlady, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenlady/pseuds/Jen%20Hall
Summary: A relative contacts Hutch after years of silence.





	1. Chapter 1

Starsky was cooking dinner, listening to music on his headphones so as not to disturb Hutch who was having a nap after love, and composing his report for their latest case in his head, all at the same time.  The phone rang.  Starsky turned off the stove under the spaghetti sauce, pulled off his headphones and answered the phone after one ring, grinning to himself in congratulations at his multitasking. 

‘Starsky-Hutchinson residence.  Detective Starsky speaking.’

‘Detective Starsky, this is Lottie Warren,’ the warm, feminine voice in his ear informed him.  ‘I am the personal lawyer of Victoria Hutchinson.  Are we correct in our assumption that Kenneth Hutchinson who is residing with you is my client’s grandson?’

‘Umm…that information might be confidential, depending on the intention of this call.  I am Detective Hutchinson’s legal Domestic Partner, and I have his full permission to screen phone calls from his family.  For Reasons.’

‘I understand,’ said Ms. Warren.  ‘My client was of the belief that her grandson was deceased and has recently discovered otherwise. She wishes to renew family relations with him in a friendly manner, but she is concerned that he may not wish to do so.  For Reasons, as you say.’

Starsky tried to think of an elegant, formal way to tell the lawyer to fuck off, but that was really Hutch’s job, and perhaps he was having warmer feelings toward his family since Barbara had become part of their lives. 

‘Hold the line for a moment, please.’ 

‘Certainly, sir,’ said Ms. Warren.

Starsky pressed the mute button on the phone, and headed down the hall to the bedroom. Hutch was sprawled naked, face down on the bed.  He looked relaxed and peaceful, and utterly beautiful, and Starsky hated to wake him.

‘What is it, Babe?’ Hutch mumbled into his pillow.

‘It’s a phone call from someone purporting to be your granny’s lawyer, who is purporting to want to get back together with you.’

‘That’s a lot of purporting.’

‘Yeah, really,’ said Starsky.

Hutch rolled over, revealing the other side of his beauty.  There was a glass of water on the bedside table, and he took a big swallow, said ‘Ugh!’ and reached for the phone.  ‘C’mon,’ he said.  ‘Give.’

Starsky handed him the receiver and sat beside him on the bed.  ‘It’s on mute,’ he said.

‘Mmmm.’  Hutch coughed to clear his throat, clicked the mute button again, and said, ‘Hello?  Hutchinson speaking….Hmmm….Hmmm….Okay.  I understand.  This has happened before.  My parents hate the fact that I’m gay, and they’ve spread all kinds of lies about me.  Even worse ones than my premature death….Yes….If I were to come out to Minnesota to meet my grandmother, I want it understood that I am gay, and my partner will be with me.  I don’t want any kind of confrontation with my family.  I’m not afraid of confrontation, and neither is Starsky, but….Okay, that’s acceptable.  I’ll discuss it with Starsky. We make our decisions bilaterally, so to speak, and we’ll let you know….Okay.  Tomorrow.  Goodbye.’  Hutch pressed the off button, closed his eyes, and leaned back with a sigh.

‘I gather your grandmother wants to meet you to confirm your status as among the living?’

‘Something like that, yes.’

‘Okay.  Well, that’s a good thing, though, right?’

‘I already know I’m alive, Starsk.’

‘I mean….’

‘I know what you mean, Babe.  It’s just….’

‘….A bit of a shock after all this time.’

‘She didn’t seem to care when I really could have used her help, or even just her love.’

‘Well, if we go see her you can tell her that, and maybe she’ll explain, or apologize.  It might make you feel better.  You awake now?  For good, I mean?’

‘Looks like it.’

‘I’m making supper.  Or….’

Hutch tossed the phone across the room, and pulled Starsky into bed.  Supper would keep.  Let’s go with ‘Or’ he thought.

 


	2. Chapter 2

‘Grandmother,’ said Barbara, with a deep sigh.  ‘I don’t know what to tell you.  I mean, I was just a child when it all went down.  Really went down.  It was like a bomb went off in the house.  The atmosphere was poisonous.  I was mystified. Couldn’t figure out what you could possibly have done to warrant such a reaction.’

‘Nothing.  Except tell a boy I loved him.  I hadn’t even kissed anyone yet, let alone had sex.  I had fantasies, of course.’

‘What kind of fantasies?’ asked Starsky.

‘Can’t quite remember all the details, but I had very little notion about how men could have sex together.’

‘I’m not sure either,’ said Marcia.  Hutch threw a cushion at her, and Barbara pretended to try smothering her with it.  This broke a little of the tension that had built up since they had gotten together to talk.

Barbara and Marcia had moved out into their own small apartment a while before.  Starsky and Hutch were happy for them to have their own place.  They’d helped them move and buy furniture they could afford.  They’d also been happy to have their apartment back all to themselves, but they still missed their company, and tried to see them as often as possible.  They usually avoided talking about the family issues that hung over their heads like the Sword of Damocles, however.  This was still hard.

‘Mostly I just imagined a sexy guy with dark curly hair and bright eyes, who lay back naked in my bed and smiled at me,’ Hutch offered.  ‘My tastes haven’t changed much.’

‘Mmmm. Lucky for me,’ said Starsky.

‘So, why was that the vilest thing my parents had ever encountered?’  Hutch wondered.

‘Mom said something about you being possessed by demons, but whatever….’

‘Yeah,’ said Hutch.  ‘Whatever, Mom.  But Grandmother.  What did she have to say?’

‘Nothing, that I remember.  It was like she got real quiet.  Just…real quiet. Then she went into the Home.’

‘The Home?  Sorry, Barb.  I knew almost nothing about what was going on at home.  And I know I shut you down every time you tried talking about it since that first day.  I…I….’

‘It’s okay, Hutch.  I understand.  So, if you need to know now, I’ll tell you what I know. Which isn’t much, I must confess.  Grandmother went into a Home, not long after you disappeared the first time.  It’s all vague in my mind, so I can’t give you details, but she’s still there as far as I know.  Whenever I went to see her, it was like…she was depressed, I think.  Like she wasn’t interested in anything much.’

Hutch closed his eyes and turned very quiet.  Worried, Starsky reached out and touched him gently.  ‘Hutch?’ he whispered.

‘It’s okay, Babe.  I’m okay.  I’m just thinking…. The first night they threw me out. I was in shock.  I wandered the streets.  Ended up…well, never mind that.  The next day I tried calling Grandmother.  We’d never been really close.  I’d been closer to Grandad.  But we’d been close enough.  I thought she’d care about me, no matter what.  So, I called her.’  Hutch was silent for a moment, then went on.  ‘Dad answered.  I hung up.  I called the next day.  The voice that answered... I didn’t recognize.  It was a woman, a younger woman.  Definitely not Grandmother. She told me, ‘Your Grandmother doesn’t want to speak to you.  You are an abomination.’  Then she hung up on me.  I tried calling again in a few days, ready to beg her to listen to me, but it was a recorded message saying the line had been disconnected.  I never tried again.’

‘That was probably when she went into the Home,’ said Barbara.  ‘But she never called you names in her own voice, right?’

‘No,’ said Hutch.  ‘I was hurt and scared and I just assumed.  But it does seem that I disappointed her somehow.  She never tried to contact me later, so….’

‘Hey, Mushbrain,’ said Starsky.  ‘We’re good detectives. We don’t just assume, remember?  Huh?  What that other woman said might not have been your grandmother’s actual words. Or she may have changed her mind since then.  We should go find out.’

‘I…I don’t want to subject you to….’

‘Hey, Mushbrain,’ Starsky said again.  ‘You don’t subject me to anything I don’t want to be subjected to.  We need to find out the truth, and it’s useless to interrogate a perp over the phone.’

‘Interrogate a perp?’ Hutch laughed. 

‘Oh, when you guys start with that technical esoteric cop speak it’s game over,’ said Marcia.  ‘Let’s take a break to eat.’

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

‘Don’t judge Minnesota based on my own experiences,’ declared Hutch as he waved his hand around, indicating the city of Minneapolis, as if awarding it to Starsky as a prize.  ‘Minneapolis is a great place for gay people in a lot of ways, and we won a number of victories in this state.  For example, Sharon Kowalski and Karen Thompson.  Sharon Kowalski was badly injured in a car accident, and her parents took her away from her lover, Karen Thompson.  Karen fought for years to get her back in her care, and she did, eventually.’

‘I remember something about that. Yeah.  That’s why we need same-sex marriage laws that are unshakeable.  Imagine if I was badly hurt and my family wouldn’t let you take care of me.’

‘I’d fight them, but it would be… scary and horrible.  Like a nightmare, feeling your pain and not being able to comfort you.’

‘Like being back in that camp?’ said Starsky.  ‘Being called terrible names, accused of so many ugly things?  Yeah, we need to be strong, together.  You need to be strong but let me be stronger.  Let me protect you, because that’s what I’m here for.’

Hutch smiled and leaned back in the seat to watch Starsky drive.  Starsky had gone all Mama Bear on him, but Hutch didn’t mind, far from it.  The situation with his grandmother had reawakened all kinds of fears of losing his home and family, which now centred around Starsky.  Losing control over his own life, which was also Starsky’s life.  Losing the basic rights that all gay and lesbian people had fought so hard to win.  Marriage was legal for them here and there but not over there or there. They could get married in one state and still be unmarried in another. They could get married anywhere up in Canada, and it would be legal across that whole country, but it wouldn’t apply in this state or that state of the United States.  Starsky had told him he would marry him every day in every place where it was legal, until the end of time, and Hutch loved him for it, but said his heart couldn’t take it.  He preferred to stick with their Domestic Partnership status, which probably wouldn’t be taken from them any time soon, since it wasn’t something straights had ever exactly lusted after for themselves. Being bounced around like a yoyo would hurt too much. Marriage had been legal for them in California for a time, but the straights had changed the law, so it applied only to them. 

For Hutch, nothing proved that they were on the right track like the way some straight people fought every inch of the way to giving equal status to gay people.  Why are they so afraid, he wondered?  We’re not demons, that’s nonsense. We’ve been around at least as long as straights, probably, and the human race is still reproducing, so it’s not that…. 

Never mind.  They were in Minnesota, the day before their meeting with Victoria Hutchinson. Same sex marriage was not legal here, but the voters had rejected a recent bill banning it.  There was hope in the wind. Like Harvey Milk had said, you have to give them hope. Every little victory was glorious, but there were always defeats.  Would his reunion with his Grandmother be a victory or a defeat?

‘What should we do?’ asked Starsky.  ‘Check out the gay district in Minneapolis, just for fun?  Point at the strange fashions and laugh?’

‘Tonight,’ said Hutch. ‘Let’s get out of the city now.  Somewhere quiet, with lots of trees and lakes.  Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 Lakes.’

‘Whatever your little heart desires,’ Starsky declared, with admirable courage.

‘That’s giving my heart a lot of latitude,’ said Hutch.

‘I trust your heart,’ said Starsky, softly.  Hutch patted his knee, sighed and closed his eyes, letting Starsky drive.  Their trust went both ways.

With unerring judgement Starsky managed to find a charming little lake with no one else around, and a little woodsy hollow just off the beaten path. They had a picnic, listening to the lake lap against the shore.  Dessert made Hutch sleepy and he fell asleep with his head in Starsky’s lap. So far, his first visit to Minnesota in years was not as horrible as he’d feared.  So far.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

They were a few minutes early for their appointment with Hutch’s grandmother at the law offices of Lottie Warren.  She was a junior partner at the law firm of Roundsley, Martin and Grimm, it seemed.  Starsky had been especially pleased that they had settled on this venue.  Not that he trusted lawyers much, but few law firms would welcome any kind of uproar caused by homophobes spewing hatred loudly and openly within their hallowed walls, he thought.  Not good advertising.

Ms. Warren had assured them this was a friendly meeting, that her client was looking forward to meeting them both. She only wanted to be satisfied that her grandson was alive and well, and to catch up on his life since they met last. 

Hutch had sighed at that revelation.  ‘Starsk, we met last over 12 years ago.’

‘Old people lose track of time.’

‘That much?’

‘Don’t worry, Babe.  Maybe she’ll have an explanation, or at least…. Look, it might be wallpapering over all the blood stains and spilled brains, but it would be something a bit more pleasant than…than your memories of most of your family. And I won’t let her abuse you. Soon as it looks like things are heading south, we’re out of there.  We’ll go find something fun to do.’

‘Oh, yeah?  Like what?’

Now they stood outside the office building.  Hutch couldn’t help feeling some trepidation.  Starsky was probably right that his grandmother and her lawyer wouldn’t be likely to carry out an anti-gay exorcism in the law offices, complete with screaming and writhing on the floor and holy water everywhere.  Perhaps just a polite threat to cut him out of her will -- if she hadn’t already -- along with a curse.  ‘May you burn in hell for all eternity!’  Well, he’d already experienced all those things, so….

As they rode up in the elevator, Hutch squared up his shoulder to Starsky’s like they were going into battle.  He took a deep breath as they approached the receptionist’s desk, but Starsky spoke first.  ‘Dave Starsky and Ken Hutchinson to see Lottie Warren,’ he announced.  ‘We have an appointment.’

‘Oh, yes,’ said the young man behind the desk.  He smiled in a friendly manner and told them to follow him.  He knocked on the door labelled L. Warren and announced their arrival.

Three women sat around a large desk.  A young woman, dressed casually, had long blonde hair, and no makeup.  A middle-aged woman was wearing a lawyer suit and heels. That was probably Lottie Warren.  The third woman was elderly, white haired and was using a wheelchair. 

Starsky broke battle formation and stepped in front like a body guard.  ‘Hello.  I’m Dave Starsky, the husband of Ken Hutchinson.’

Lottie Warren smiled. ‘Come in Mr. Starsky.  Mr. Hutchinson.  Have a seat.’

The unidentified young woman smiled and said nothing.  She seemed fascinated by them both.

The elderly woman looked at Starsky and held out her hand.  ‘I’m so pleased to meet you, Mr. Starsky.  It appears that you take good care of my grandson.’ 

Starsky gazed at her, seemed to relax, and then grinned.  ‘That has been my pleasure,’ he said.  He bent over her hand and kissed the back.  Then he sat in one of the indicated chairs and grinned up at Hutch. 

Everyone was now looking at him.  ‘Kenneth, my dear,’ said Victoria Hutchinson.  ‘I need to explain what happened, why I haven’t been able to help you all these years, but I just want to know…. I can see you’re doing well.  You have this fierce young man ready to throw himself in front of bullets for you.  You don’t need me. But can you forgive me?’

Hutch came and knelt before her.  He took her hand and kissed it as had Starsky.  ‘I forgive you,’ he said.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

They all sat around Ms. Warren’s conference table, eating lunch.  What was it with women feeding men?  Not that Starsky was complaining, but even lesbians seemed to want to stuff food into men’s mouths if they were forced to deal with them.  Take Marcie a few days ago.  As soon as they started talking about interrogating perps, she suggested eating.  And now….

Okay, Hutch was having a bit of a reaction to all the built-up stress, and no way to release it at the moment.  They could hardly go running back to their hotel, and fuck like bunnies, pleasant as the prospect might be.  Food was the next best thing.  It gave them something polite to do with their mouths and hands, and was certainly pleasant. But Starsky could sense Hutch was beginning to lose his patience.  He could hear the wheels turning in his lover’s brain and wondered that the others couldn’t hear them as well.

Hutch picked a bit more at his salad, then put down his fork and coughed.  ‘Grandmother….’

‘Yes, dear, I know you have a lot of questions.’

‘I…I don’t want to interrogate you like a perp,’ said Hutch, with a sideways glance at Starsky.  ‘I’m happy you like me again, and want to be friends, and that’s okay, but….’

‘Dear, I never stopped loving you, believe me.  Never, but….  Look, before we start narrating the Dark Side of our little family, why don’t I tell you how I found you again, after thinking you were dead for years. Then I’ll explain how we got separated.  Okay?’

‘Mmmm,’ said Hutch.  He picked up his fork and speared a chunk of apple with it out of his salad, just for something to do. 

Victoria Hutchinson nodded across the table at her young companion.  ‘Lucy?’ she said.

Lucy Erickson sat up, all young and enthusiastic.  She could have been a cousin of Hutch’s or something.  ‘I’m in pre-med at the local university,’ she announced.  ‘I’ve been working as a volunteer at various hospitals and old… um, seniors’ homes so I’ll have more to put on my applications to Med Schools, but I do care about people.  I really do.  I started working with Mrs. Hutchinson, and I realized she is a lot more…hm, awake and with it than I was told.  But I’m not a doctor or anything.  I didn’t want to do anything to mess her up.’

‘O…kay…’ said Hutch  ‘Where are we going with this?’

‘We’ll get there, dear,’ said Grandmother.

‘A few weeks ago, I got together with a bunch of friends for a party.  I’m not gay, but some of my friends are… and that’s not a joke or… anyway, we were talking about the push for gay marriage, and some people started on that spiel, you know?  “I don’t believe in gay marriage but I don’t hate gay people some of my best friends are gay” crap.  You know?’

‘Yeah, we know,’ said Starsky.

‘Okay, so Steve and Justin started trying to explain why marriage, actual real marriage was so important.  They made this really, really, brilliant speech about it, you should meet them.  Anyway, they had a magazine with them.  The Advocate, latest edition.  Well, latest edition from several weeks ago….’

‘Oh, God!’ said Hutch.

‘Yeah, well, we weren’t forced to be in it,’ said Starsky.

‘I know.’

‘More people are aware of The Advocate now, and it’s online, too.’

‘I know.’

‘Steve and Justin pulled out the magazine.  There were articles about all the successes gay people have had lately.’

‘And an article about gay and lesbian police officers, including us,’ said Starsky.

‘Yeah, with a picture of you together, and a little biography,’ Lucy pointed out.

‘And I said I’d been sent to a gay conversion camp, and after I went back to being gay, which I’d always been anyway, my parents told everyone I was dead,’ said Hutch.

‘And I looked at your photo, and your name, and I thought just maybe….’

‘Lucy showed me the magazine,’ said Grandmother.  ‘And that’s when I knew you were still alive and living in California. We did some digging and tracked you down, and that’s when I decided to break out of that Old Folks Home and rejoin the living, whatever my son thought.  I’m here, and I’m not going back.  I’ve hired Lucy as my Companion.  I’m looking for a nice new place to live.  Lucy’s been helping to take care of me, but I’m going to work on becoming more independent and alive.  And Lucy can live with me and continue her studies.  She helped me escape this morning….’

‘Escape!’ roared Hutch. 

Okay, thought Starsky.  Feeding men might work to keep most men calmed down for a time, but maybe not, if they ate only salads…. 

‘Escape!’ Hutch hissed.

‘Well,’ said Grandmother.  ‘I wasn’t exactly kept prisoner, it’s just…’

‘It’s just,’ said Hutch in an icy, deadly voice.  ‘Just exactly what did my parents do to you?’

Grandmother was silent for a moment, studying Hutch’s face.  ‘You’re so like your grandad, you know.  You look like him, sound like him.  Svend… why did all your nobility and virtue miss our son, and yet manage to inhabit our grandson?  It’s okay, I’ll tell you all about it, but I want you to remember none of this is your fault.  None of it.  It’s all William’s fault.  And Helen’s.  And that horrible group of people they got involved with.  Not yours.  Got that.’

‘Yes.  Got that,' snapped Hutch.  'What did my parents do to you?’

Starsky thought it was high time he interfered.  He stood up and moved around to Hutch’s side of the table, and before Hutch could avoid him, or protest, he grabbed his face and kissed him full on the mouth, and not a gentle, little, closed mouth public-type kiss either.  This was a heavy-duty French kiss.  Hutch surrendered, as he always did to one of Starsky’s kisses.  ‘Baby,’ Starsky said.  ‘Baby, let your grandmother tell her story, okay?  She’s alive, she’s fine, she escaped whatever it was, it’s not your fault.  Let her talk.’

‘Okay,’ said Hutch.  He asked again, more gently this time, addressing the ceiling.  ‘What did my parents do?’

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

Starsky pulled up his chair to sit beside Hutch, who was still staring blandly at the ceiling, waiting with exaggerated patience for his grandmother to tell her story.  Then he looked across the table at three pairs of fascinated eyes.  He winked at them, and reached for his plate, which still had several sandwiches and doughnuts on it.  He picked up a sandwich and Hutch snatched it out of his hand and started eating it himself.  Starsky chuckled.

‘What?’ asked Hutch, with entirely specious innocence.

‘Nothing,’ said Starsky.  ‘Okay with you if I have a doughnut?’

‘Go ahead,’ said Hutch, wrinkling his nose with disgust.

Lucy was staring at them with wide eyes.  She’d been living an exciting life the last few weeks, Starsky considered.  She’d helped to track down someone’s long lost relative, helped someone to escape from a yet-unspecified type of imprisonment, and now she’d seen two men engage in the sort of kissing that had only recently appeared in a general release motion picture.  And he and Hutch weren’t out on a wild mountainside in Wyoming, but right here in the room with her.

Hutch noticed his grandmother’s stare about the same time Starsky did.  She looked as if she were about to question where he’d learned his manners.  Starsky said, ‘What’s mine is his.’   

Hutch picked up his fork, stabbed a piece of lettuce and held it out to Starsky. ‘And what’s mine is his.’  Starsky obediently ate the lettuce.  God, he thought. What I do for the honour of our relationship. 

‘Ah,’ said Grandmother.  ‘I see.  So, if I may now continue with the narrative… This was about 12 years ago, now.  One day, your mother and father came to my house, all in a dither like someone had been murdered. With all kinds of drama and euphemisms in the beginning, but eventually with brutality and offensive language, they told me that you were gay, though they didn’t use that term.  I asked them if they were sure, and they said yes, and they’d thrown you out of the house.  I protested.  I asked them how they could do that to their own son, and they said you weren’t their son any longer. That you’d been taken over by a demon.  And I laughed.  I couldn’t believe they were serious.  But they were.  I told them they were crazy and needed to see a psychiatrist, and…  Well, that didn’t go over very well.’

‘I can imagine,’ said Hutch.

‘I guess you saw more of their insanity than did I, my dear.  But I got enough of it, myself, trust me.  They have horrible, right wing morons as friends all over the place and they called upon them all in their rage at me because I dared to criticize them.  They actually threatened to have me committed. I told them I would fight them tooth and nail – literally if necessary – and I’d win, and then I’d cut them out of my will.’

‘Ah!’

‘Yes.  Ah.  And that is how things have been going ever since.  Threat and counter threat. They forced me to move to an Old Folks Home, by threatening to commit you, when they found you.  When they did find you, they sent you to one of those camps, and told me they’d cured you.  I told them I’d cut them out of my will for torturing you like that, and they said they’d pay for you to go to Harvard if I changed my mind. It was ludicrous and exhausting.’ 

‘And then they told you I was dead.’

‘Oh, yes.  And all along their ugly friends were spying on me.  That’s why Lucy and I had to carry on like spies for me to escape from the Home.  It’s like something out of Victorian times.  But even today, if you tell people an elderly woman is a bit funny in the head, it’s amazing what you can get away with.’

‘It sounds like it was all a big power play on their part,’ Starsky ventured.

‘Detective Starsky, you speak truth.  They want my money for their right wing political endeavours, but I won’t give it to them.  They’re too afraid to kill me outright, so they’ve been killing me softly and slowly for years.  They haven’t dared to do anything obvious to force me to write my will in their favour, but they’ve been using blackmail on me all along.  Well, I’m done with that, and with them.  I came here several hours before you arrived, and I’ve rewritten my will for the last time.’

‘Grandmother?’

‘Hush, child.  There is no legal or ethical requirement for me to leave money in my will to people who have treated me and my only grandson like dirt under their feet.  Is there?’  She looked around the room.  ‘Can anyone think of a reason?  My son and daughter-in-law are not dying of starvation or living in any kind of poverty. I owe them nothing.  It’s the other way around.  You, Ken, are owed something as well…No, no, no.  Stop arguing with me.  I’m your grandmother.  I’m leaving half my worldly goods to you, and half to Barbara.  And yes, I know you don’t want my money.  But it will be yours anyway.  That’s final.  I also want to give you a present of money to make up for all these years when I’ve been unable to do anything to help you. And I want you and your nice young man here to do a few things for me, okay?  Help me to get out of that Home entirely?  I left a lot of my nice things there, and I’m scared to go and get them myself. How about a couple of big burly cops going and putting everything into storage for me, before my son and his friends get their paws on them?’

‘I’d be honoured,’ said Starsky.

‘And I have a surprise for you, Ken.  Your grandad’s piano is in my suite at the Home, and I want you to have it.’

Hutch was silent, but the tears running down his face said everything.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

Hutch on the warpath was a beautiful sight, thought Starsky.

Grandmother had called the Old Folks Home – otherwise known as Superior Gardens – to inform them that her grandsons – emphasis on the plural – were going to swing by and pick up her personal effects for her.  She told them that her grandsons had full authority to take her late husband’s piano, which did not belong to the Old Folks Home and they were not to attempt to argue otherwise.

Superior Gardens – otherwise known as the Old Folks Home – was really fancy.  Gleaming floors, soft mood lighting, muzak playing in the background – hadn’t that gone out of date with Disco? – security cameras everywhere.

This place creeps me out, thought Starsky.  It’d be like living in a dentist’s office.  How could Grandmother have tolerated this for years?  I’d be a basket case in no time.  God, Hutch.  Don’t ever let anyone stick me in a place like this, no matter how demented I get.  He wanted to catch Hutch’s eye to beg for reassurance, but Hutch was busy on the warpath, arguing with the smiling robot behind the desk, who kept saying he was sorry that he couldn’t give out personal information, that he had to call Mr. Hutchinson for permission and shit like that.  Starsky wanted to join Hutch on the warpath, but one of them had to keep a cool head and watch out for sneak attacks in this place. 

Starsky thought he saw a rustling in one of the potted palm trees, and nearly jumped out of his skin.

‘Now you listen to me,’ said Hutch, his index finger pointing and shaking dangerously.  ‘My grandmother already called and told you she was moving out, whether you like it or not, or whether her son likes it or not. She wants her personal belongings removed from this premises and delivered to her new address before anyone gets the bright idea to appropriate some of her property for themselves, and you don’t need permission from Mr. Hutchinson. Actually, I’m Mr. Hutchinson and you have my permission.’

‘Sir, there is some question about whether or not Mrs. Hutchinson made the phone call under duress….’

'What?  How dare you insinuate that....'

Starsky abandoned his surveillance of the hinky palm tree.  ‘Hey, you! You have a computer?’

‘Of course, sir.  What….’

‘Look up the law firm of Roundsley, Martin and Grimm.  See that ad?  Call the main office and ask to be transferred to Lottie Warren’s office, and then ask Ms. Warren to hand over the phone to Mrs. Hutchinson.  Would that reassure you that she’s not in some rat-infested dungeon with a gun to her head?’

Starsky tugged Hutch over to sit on one of the good-looking but uncomfortable benches, where he could resume keeping an eye on the palm tree. 

‘Yeah,’ said Hutch.

‘I guess it’s understandable they’re cautious,’ Starsky ventured.

Hutch made a rude noise.  Starsky looked away from the palm tree and then back quickly.  He was sure a leaf had moved.  ‘It’s unnatural,’ he said. 

Hutch patted his knee and smirked.  ‘Hmmm?  What’s unnatural?’

‘A palm tree trapped in a pot indoors.  Unnatural.  It needs to be outside in the wind and the sun.’

‘It’s too cold in Minnesota for outdoor palm trees,’ Hutch explained.

‘I know that.  But I think that palm is trying to get outside anyway.’

A car drove up to the doors of the Old Folks Home.  Hutch got to his feet and strode out, Starsky behind him.  In the car were Grandmother, Lucy Erickson, Lottie Warren, and a young uniformed cop that Ms. Warren introduced as her son, Officer Frank Warren.

Officer Warren pulled the wheelchair out of the trunk of the car, and Lucy helped Grandmother out of the car and into her chair.

‘Aw, Grandmother,’ said Hutch.  ‘We’re sorry they wouldn’t take our word for it.’

‘Never you mind.  I guess I really wanted to say a few last words anyway.’

They all formed a guard around her, and Hutch pushed her chair into the lobby of the Old Folks Home.  He pushed her up to the front desk. 

‘Young man!’ 

The young man at the desk jumped a little in surprise.  ‘Mrs. Hutchinson?’ He sounded a bit unsure. 

‘Yes, it is I.  Don’t you recognize me? I lived here long enough, if you could call it living.'

‘Well, yes, but….’

‘But I came back to life, no thanks to you.  Now, these two gentlemen here, Ken and Dave, are my grandsons, as I told you on the phone.  Twice, I told you. Twice I told you they have my permission to pack up my stuff and move it.  Now I’m here in person to tell you the third time.  Get on it!’

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

 

 

Hutch touched the beautiful rosewood piano with reverence.  ‘Look,’ he said.  ‘It’s a Bechstein Concert.  Some consider it the best upright piano around.  Almost as good as a Grand.  The Beatles used it. Simon and Garfunkle.’  He opened the lid and played a note.  Then ran his fingers up and down the keyboard.  It sounded fine to Starsky, but Hutch winced.  ‘I need practice,’ he offered.  ‘But no time now.  We should wrap it in blankets and load it in the truck first.’

‘Good idea,’ said Starsky.  ‘If we unload it last, it will be right in front in the storage space, so it will be easy to get out when we arrange how to take it home with us. I wouldn’t want to drive it home ourselves, though.’

‘No,’ Hutch agreed.  ‘We’ll have to hire movers.’

Starsky was already wrapping blankets around the piano.  Hutch taped it all down with duct tape.  They manhandled it onto the truck and packed it around with cardboard boxes of books and cushions and suitcases and other unbreakable things.  Grandmother’s bedstead and sofa and armchairs were next. Then boxes of dishes and lamps. 

‘Okay!’ said Starsky.  ‘Now all your granny needs is a new apartment and she’s good to go.  Let’s take a break before we head for the storage.’

They climbed out of the truck and locked it.  Turned back toward the Old Folks Home, ready to tell Grandmother and the others they were finished, and suggest they go get some coffee.

A car drove up out the front, and Starsky felt Hutch stiffen.  A chill went down his own spine when he sensed Hutch’s tension.  Now what?

A woman got out of the car, a young man beside her.  The man wore a dark suit and tie, and he was carrying a book bound in black leather.  They headed straight for the front door of the Home.

‘My God,’ Hutch whispered.  He turned and gave Starsky a wide-eyed look.  ‘You should maybe stay back?’

‘Not a chance in Hell, Babe.  She your mother?’

‘Mother, and a cousin of mine.  Billy, I think, though it’s been years since I’ve seen him.  He has this look, you know?  And his constant accessory.’

‘The Bible.’

‘Yeah, the very thing.’

‘Let’s go.  I’m right beside you, and I cannot be moved.  The Gates of Hell could open….’

‘They might.’

‘…and we’ll fight Satan and all his Fallen Angels together.’

‘Okay.  I love you.’

‘Right back at’cha.’

As they got to the doors they could hear raised voices within.  They stepped inside and Starsky took in the scene:  several staff members wringing their hands.  Several more inmates on the sidelines taking in the show.  And the centre of the action, Grandmother facing down Hutch’s mother and Cousin Billy and his Bible. 

‘I haven’t gone crazy,’ Grandmother insisted.  ‘I’ve come to my senses and you have no say in any of this.’

‘Where are you going, Mom?’

‘None of your business, and I’m not your mother, thank God.  I’m your Mother-in-law, but I’m divorcing you.  Go home.’

‘What’s come over you?’

‘Oh, wouldn’t you like to know.’

‘Yeah, I would.  They called me up telling me something was going on, something about you moving out, but then they hung up.’

‘Yes, they hung up because we caught them at it.  I told them it was none of your business, but they wouldn’t listen.  So, whatever comes of this scene is all on them.  I might sue.  Go home, Helen.  You’re a liar and I want nothing more to do with you.’

‘Liar?  What do you mean?’

‘Oh, stop with the innocent act.  You know perfectly well you’ve been lying to me all these years. Telling me my grandson was dead.  He’s standing right behind you in perfect health.  And a fine young man he is, too, no thanks to you.’

Helen Hutchison seemed to sway on her feet.  She turned, slowly, and took in the sight before her.  Then she just crumpled to the ground, in what appeared to be a faint. 

He and Hutch looked at each other.  It made no sense, Starsky thought.  If Helen knew Hutch was alive, she wouldn’t have been so shocked to see him standing there alive.  Could she have believed he was dead, like so many others? 

'Starsk?'

'Yeah, Babe?'

'Am I alive? Not a ghost or anything?'

Starsky took his hand. It was warm and firm. He kissed it. 'Either you're alive, or I'm dead,' he said. 'I don't care which, as long as we're together.'

 

 

 

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

 

They got Helen up onto a couch in the lobby, and someone called a nurse. 

‘I’m okay,’ said Helen.

‘Well, of course you’re okay,’ Grandmother pointed out.  ‘That was the cheesiest fake fainting fit I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a few in my long years on this planet.’

‘It wasn’t fake!’

‘Really?  You really believed Ken was dead?  What the hell is wrong with you?  Someone told you Ken had died, and you didn’t care enough – sorry, dear.  I’m so sorry. We should just leave her here and get on with the move.’

‘No,’ said Hutch. ‘Go ahead Grandmother.  Interrogate her.  I want to know her answer, too.  Did she really believe I was dead?  Barb was just a little girl.  You were dealing with problems of your own, and you tried to fight for me.  But Mom?  Does she hate me so much she doesn’t care if I live or die?’

Helen sat up, sharply.  ‘Of course I care,’ she said.  But she didn’t look at Hutch.  ‘I love you more than anyone.  I really love you, that’s why we did what we did. Tried to save you.  Tried to save your soul.  We did it out of love.  Not like… it’s evil, wrong, ugly what you were doing, and we worked so hard to save you.  I-I guess I knew you were alive, but I just told myself you really were dead, because… because it hurt less.’

Hutch was silent for a long moment.  ‘I have no answer for that,’ he said, at last.

‘You have no answer because you know it’s true,’ said his mother.

‘I have no answer because I can’t believe you hate me so much.’

‘I love you!  It’s not hate, but love.’

‘Bullshit!  You never tried, even for one minute, to listen to me, to understand me.  You can’t love me because you don’t know me, and never even tried.  You just judged me, and half killed me trying to change me.  Don’t even try to excuse yourself with this garbage about the kind of love that tortures someone to make them conform.’

Helen turned to look at him then.  ‘I prayed for you, on my knees.  I cried and cried for you.  I prayed God would save you from all that terrible pain and suffering and make you normal and happy.  All I wanted was for you to have a normal, happy life with love and a happy home life, and friends who really cared about you, and….’

‘Well, congratulations. And thanks. Because your prayers were answered.’

Helen gasped.  ‘Ken!  Ken, are you telling me…?  You’ve been saved?  Freed from that terrible addiction?’

‘Well, yes.  I survived that terrible concentration camp you sent me to.  I found myself again.  And I met the most wonderful person to share my life with.  Mother, please meet my husband, David Starsky!’

‘Ma’am,’ said Starsky. He didn’t offer to shake her hand, nor did he move an inch from Hutch’s side.

‘We have a very happy home life,’ Hutch continued. 

‘Stop this!  Stop this now!’

‘I love my career as a police detective. We have many friends, and….’

‘Stop this blasphemy!’

‘Yeah, like I said, you don’t care about me, or love me. All you care about is what your religion tells you is normal.’

‘Stop, stop, stop!’ Helen screamed.

A nurse in a white uniform entered the lobby.  ‘What is going on here?’ she demanded.  ‘What kind of behavior is this?’

‘Good questions,’ said Grandmother.  ‘Off hand I’d say the childish behavior of someone who has never had to face the fact not everyone adheres to her beliefs and values.  But then I’m just an old lady, probably suffering from dementia.  I guess that’s why I can listen to Ken and accept what he tells me as the truth. Right Helen?  I’m the crazy one?’

‘Yes, you are.  How can you possibly believe…?’

‘Experience in life. I don’t expect everyone to be like me.  I’ve suffered and survived, and I don’t freak out if someone tells me they’re gay.  Look at you.  You’re pathetic.  You have a beautiful son.  He’s smart, successful, charming.  He’s in love.  His partner is smart, successful and charming, and a beautiful young man as well.  If I were decades younger, I’d fancy him myself.  What is your problem?  Quit your moaning and grow up.  When I was twelve years old…. Listen to me, Helen, damn you.  I don’t care if you’ve heard this story before.  Listen and learn for once…. When I was twelve years old, my parents were driving home from the hospital with my newborn baby sister, and there was a car accident and all of them died.  I got sent to an orphanage, and spent years going from foster home to foster home.  I won’t go into details of all my horrible experiences except to say:  that is tragedy. That is suffering. Get over yourself…. Come on, people.  Let’s blow this pop stand!  I’ve got some new digs to look for.’

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

 

They got Grandmother and the others settled in Lottie Warren’s car.  With wide eyes Lucy Erickson confessed she had recorded the entire ‘Confrontation Scene’, as she called it, on her phone.  ‘Don’t worry,’ she told them.  ‘I haven’t posted it.  Yet.  But it’s safely up in the Cloud.’

‘Okay,’ said Hutch, sounding mystified.  Maybe about the nature of the Cloud, or maybe about why Lucy considered a video of that horrible scene was worth preserving.  Starsky wasn’t sure.

‘Good idea,’ said Grandmother, who clearly thought it was worth preserving.  ‘You go, girl.  What’s the Cloud, again?’

Starsky left it to Lucy to explain, and led Hutch to the truck, holding tightly to his hand.  He could feel himself starting to shake a little in reaction to all the stress of worrying about Hutch, and what he’d just been forced to endure.  When they reached the truck, Hutch pressed him against the side, ran his hands down to cup his ass, and bent his golden head down over Starsky’s dark curls.  With mingled pain and pleasure Starsky realized Hutch was actually comforting _him._ As if he were the one who had suffered.  Well, comfort could go both ways, Starsky thought, and he turned Hutch’s face to his own and kissed his lips. 

He heard a rude, gagging sound near them and turned to see that Cousin Billy had decided to join them, complete with Bible.  ‘You sickos do that in public, too?  Trying to prove it’s all about loooove?  Everyone knows you’re making it up.  It’s all about sex.  Disgusting sex.  Why do you do those things?’

‘The show’s over, Billy,’ said Hutch, calmly.  ‘You can go now.’

‘The thows over, Billy,’ Billy mocked, prancing a little and flapping a wrist up and down.  In the lobby of the Home, surrounded by people, including an armed cop, Billy had been silent and still, shifting a little from one foot to another, looking like a deer in the headlights.  Now, with just two ‘sickos’ confronting him he was much braver, confident in his superiority as he brandished his Bible. 

‘Get lost,’ Hutch snarled.  He opened the truck door.  Billy lunged at him, as if he could actually do him harm.  As if Hutch weren’t tough as nails and a trained police officer.  As if his partner weren’t standing right there, ready to defend his beautiful love against the Armies of Hell.  As if Starsky couldn’t give Billy one shove and send him flying back to land on his backside in the dirt.

‘Hey!’ said Billy, picking himself up off the ground.

 ‘I’d stay out of our way,’ said Hutch, as he swung up into the cab. 

Starsky strutted around to the driver’s side, and joined Hutch in the cab.  He started the engine.  As they drove away, followed by Grandmother and her crew, he could see Billy standing alone on the sidewalk, clutching his Bible like a life preserver in a storm.  Starsky might have felt sorry for him if he hadn’t been staring after them all with utter hatred clear on his face. 

**********

 

‘Being gay is exhausting,’ announced Hutch, as he threw himself into the arm chair in Grandmother’s hotel suite.  ‘Why would anyone choose it?  Moving furniture is easy in comparison.’

‘Hey!  I love being gay.  I’d never choose to be different,’ said Starsky.  He eyed Hutch’s blond beauty, sprawled in the chair, looking all exhausted and sweaty.  He was fully dressed though, which was tragic.  And they were in his grandmother’s hotel room.  Grandmother had insisted on them moving into her hotel at her expense, so they wouldn’t have far to go when Hutch regained his energy.

‘I love it too, Babe,’ said Hutch.  ‘I’d never change.  I’m just saying, if, as too many people believe, we’re all born straight, and choose to become gay…. Look, being straight isn’t all smooth sailing, but how many straight people have their parents trying to make them become gay, or think of them as dead because they’re straight?  It’s been twelve years, and she still isn’t over it enough to have a reasonable conversation with me.  She never asked me one question about my job, or—or anything. I tried to tell her, and she didn't hear a word I said.'

‘I’m so sorry about all that, Ken,’ said Grandmother.  ‘It would never have happened if I hadn’t asked you to help me move.’

Hutch sat up straight.  ‘Oh, no, Grandmother.  Don’t you dare blame yourself.  I wouldn’t have missed your little speeches for the world.’

‘Yeah, that was a treat,’ Starsky agreed.  ‘Did you know your grandmother was so….fierce ?

‘And so eloquent?  Oh yeah.  She’s something else.  Grandad used to start arguments with her just to chuckle over her mock lectures…. I was a little scared of you when I was a kid, you know?  No.  Not scared, intimidated.  Mom and Dad didn’t argue like that.  They got all cold and distant.  More and more as time went on.  I thought it was all my fault – and maybe it was.’

Grandmother clicked her tongue and raised her index finger to shake at Hutch.  ‘It was not your fault,’ she declared.  ‘All theirs.’

‘But…you see…I think Dad sensed I was gay.  When I was a little boy….’

‘You were adorable!’

‘He didn’t want an adorable little boy.  I did play sports.  Tennis and basketball, mostly.  Not football or soccer.  I liked music more.  Much more.  And I was gay.  I knew that for as long as I could know myself.  I just sensed it, and so did he.’

Starsky sighed and came to sit on the arm of the chair beside Hutch. ‘It was his loss that he rejected you,’ he said.  ‘All he did was cause you pain, and your mother pain, and himself pain, too.  Let’s go get settled into our new hotel room, okay?’ 

‘Okay.  But Grandmother, we were fine in that other place, you didn’t have to….’

‘Yes, I did. Stop arguing with the Old Lady.  I’m fragile.  I was suffering pangs of conscience, thinking of you in some cheap place, trying to sleep on some hard mattress with your next-door neighbours banging their headboard against the wall all night long.’

Starsky, who had just drained his coffee cup, spit it all out, and nearly choked laughing.  ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad a place, and we’ve banged a few headboards in our time, you know.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Grandmother.  ‘But I’m glad to hear it.’

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

 

Starsky opened their hotel room door with his key card and waved Hutch in.  ‘Monsieur,’ he said.  He picked up their suitcases, which they had tossed down on the living room sofa before heading over to help Grandmother get settled.  He began to open them and put clothes away in the bedroom and toothbrushes and razors in the bathroom.  Hutch offered to help, but Starsky waved him over to sit on the sofa while he organized things.  ‘You just sit there and look beautiful,’ he said.

‘I’ll try,’ said Hutch.

‘You don’t have to try,’ said Starsky.  ‘It comes naturally to you.’  He bustled back into the bedroom.  ‘Just wait there until I call you, okay?’

Hutch, who had expected to be pounced on as soon as they entered their suite, smiled and relaxed.  He looked around at the suite which they hadn’t had time to explore earlier. There was a spacious living room, with a bar and small refrigerator.  The bathroom boasted a jacuzzi and a shower stall.  Hutch had yet to see the bedroom, which was down a short hallway, out of sight, but he imagined it was pretty luxurious, too.  He tried to squash his natural guilt at the idea that Grandmother was paying for all this.  He didn’t think she owed him anything, but then, if it made her happy….

‘Okay, Detective Hutchinson, you can come in now.’

The bedroom was luxurious, with a beautiful carpet, a chest of drawers, two chairs and a small table by the window.  The curtains were drawn shut, and the only light came from a lamp on one of the bedside tables.  The one bed was king-sized, and the dark blue sheets looked like satin. 

But best of all was the occupant of that bed. David Starsky was wearing a thin white T-shirt, which he started to strip off in a sexy, seductive manner as Hutch stood in the doorway.  He’d drawn up the top sheet to cover his hips, and Hutch wondered if he was already naked under the sheet, or if he’d left his briefs on so that Hutch could have the pleasure of removing them. 

‘Detective Hutchinson?’

‘Yes, Detective Starsky?’

‘Describe to me the full content of your sexy fantasy you mentioned earlier.  Was the gentleman in question naked from the start, or did you remove his briefs for him?’

‘I took them off,’ said Hutch, moving closer to the bed.

‘Ah,’ said Starsky.  ‘Demonstrate your technique, if you please.’

‘That would be my pleasure,’ Hutch purred.

**********

 

Starsky opened his eyes. He didn’t think they’d slept long – maybe fifteen minutes.  Hutch was still asleep, and Starsky didn’t want to wake him, so he slid very carefully out from under his protective arm.  He used the bathroom quietly, and had a good look at the jacuzzi.  That would be a nice treat later.  Then he checked out the bar.  Hmmm. A good bottle of wine, and a wine glass they could share.  They should order dinner soon, but Starsky still felt amorous, and that usually meant that Hutch felt the same. 

Hutch was awake now, at least to a certain extent. He looked up sleepily at Starsky’s entrance, and eyed him with returning interest.  Oh, yeah.  ‘Here,’ said Starsky.  ‘Have some wine.’

Starsky sat propped up among piled pillows and cushions, and Hutch rested his head in his lap where he had a good view of Starsky’s cock.  Hutch took a swallow of wine and passed the glass back to Starsky.  Then he kissed Starsky’s cock with lips lubricated with wine.  ‘Good boy,’ he said.  ‘Nice cock.’

‘He’s glad you approve,’ said Starsky. 

‘Mmmm. I approve.  He put on an exceptional performance.’

‘It was heartfelt,’ said Starsky.  ‘Not just for show.’

‘I know.’

‘You inspire him… me.  All that golden skin and soft silky hair.  When I’m inside you, feeling that heat and silkiness, sliding in and out... and in and out….’

‘Starsky.’  Hutch kissed the tip of Starsky's penis, which began to sit up and take notice of the opportunities. 

‘Not yet,’ said Starsky.  ‘Soon.  Have more wine.’  He filled the wine glass again.  ‘Do you want me inside you again, or the other way?’

‘Don’t know.  Can’t decide.’

‘Then don’t.  We’ll see what happens.  I love you.  You were so brave today.’

Hutch made a scoffing sound.

‘No, listen.  You weren’t prepared for that.  None of us were, and you handled it just great.’

‘I’m always prepared for that.  It hurts, but the pain makes me strong.  Listen, let’s not go home yet.  Let’s stay here until our vacation time is over and see if we can’t help Grandmother more.  I need time with her.’

‘Whatever you need,’ said Starsky.  ‘But you don’t need pain to make you strong.’

‘I do.  It reminds me of the others who didn’t make it out alive, you know?  Tomorrow I want to ask Grandmother what she remembers, about what my parents told her at the time.  Maybe she remembers names.’

‘You still want to go after them, the people who ran that camp?’

‘I do,’ said Hutch.  ‘If you have no objections.’

‘I have no objections to anything you want to do right now… well, unless you suggest going jogging.’

Hutch laughed.  ‘That sounds like fun,’ he said.  ‘Tomorrow morning, first thing.  In the meantime… what was your question a few minutes ago?  Should you fuck me, or the other way around?’

‘Yeah,’ said Starsky. 

‘Let’s wrestle for it.’

‘Mmmm. Just what I like. A win-win situation.’

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

 

Starsky lay sprawled in their bed with his head in Hutch’s lap.  Hutch fed him bits of dinner off their plate, and they exchanged sips of wine.  This was a regular scenario, and always had been, but Starsky felt a difference – Hutch was more relaxed.  Starsky didn’t have the feeling that every moment together was being eaten up by Hutch in desperation, as if his lover mustn’t miss a moment of their life together. 

Starsky considered Hutch’s situation in life when he first met him.  Hutch believed he didn’t have a family who cared about him. For Starsky, who had always known his family loved him, it was hard to imagine such a possibility, or how one might survive it.  But Hutch had survived, and Starsky had become not just his lover, and partner, but his entire family. 

Later, Hutch’s sister had appeared, and that had been a comfort, but this had not changed Hutch’s life to any great extent.  Barb was years younger than Hutch, she was involved in her own relationship with Marcia, and her relationship with her brother had been damaged somewhat by those years of Hutch’s exile.  She loved her brother, but the support she could give him was limited.

Now someone new had entered the picture.

‘You are still the most important person in my life,’ said Hutch, in his honeyed voice.  As if he’d read Starsky’s mind.

‘Oh!’ said Starsky.  ‘I know.  Of course I am.’

‘I got tangled up and lost in these rich dark curls years ago, and never want to escape.’

‘I’m happy for you, finding your grandmother again.  She’s an amazing lady.  I wish she’d been there for you all along, but….’

‘She was,’ said Hutch.  ‘I remember wondering at times why my parents let me go to Harvard. They even let me move out on my own, though they did keep tabs on me.  They could have refused, and in fact they did, then changed their minds suddenly.  It made no sense to me then, but now it does.  Essentially, she was blackmailing them, or bribing them – or both – into letting me have my way.  She saved my life, I think, because I was in despair until Dad came and told me I was going to Harvard.’

Hutch picked out a nice piece of steak for Starsky, and popped it in his mouth.  Starsky ate the steak and kissed the hand that fed it to him. 

‘You wouldn’t have liked the person I was then,’ said Hutch.  ‘I was afraid of everyone and everything, but I – I hid it by being more combative than Genghis Khan, I swear.’

Starsky kissed his hand again.  ‘I would have loved you whenever I met you,’ he said, and watched another piece of the puzzle being fitted into the picture Hutch was creating.  A picture of a happy life that had never been. 

They had done this often.  Smoothing over the bumps in Hutch’s life road.  Creating better versions of his memories.  Once Hutch had plumbed the depths of his memories and faced the past, Starsky had suggested he didn’t have to live there permanently.  Why not deliberately ‘forget’ some things about the past, and replace them with happier memories? 

‘That’s why we were fated to meet,’ said Hutch, as he had many times.  He added, ‘I think you’re the only one who may really have been able to put up with me.’

‘You know I had relationships before I met you,’ said Starsky.  ‘They were all nice people. We had fun together.  We split as friends.  But there was always something missing. You showed me what that was.  I needed something deep, and raw, and full of need. I needed someone to bare their soul to me, and beg me to reveal my soul to him.  I needed someone to prove to me that love was strong as death.’

‘Starsk.’

‘I didn’t want a nice love.  I needed a wild love, that tore at my heart and demanded I do some violence of my own.’

‘Starsk.’

‘You gave me that.  You changed me.  You turned me inside out and upside down, and I haven’t been the same person since.’

‘Do you regret it?  Don’t you ever wish for a nice safe love, and life with someone who made fewer demands on you?’

Starsky’s answer was wordless, but left Hutch in no doubt of his meaning in spite of it.

 


	13. Chapter 13

 

Hutch woke early, tucked under Starsky’s arm.  He felt lighter and younger than he had in some years.  Coming back to Minnesota – to Duluth for God’s sake – and meeting his grandmother and his mother, had been a lot easier than he’d ever imagined.  Mostly because he had Starsky at his back, like an army with banners, but also because he himself had grown stronger and wiser.  It had not been something out of a horror story, in which terrible memories overwhelmed him and left him lying naked in the street half dead.

He slid out from under that beloved arm, leaving a kiss on that powerful hand which even in sleep reached for him. Blue eyes opened, asked a question. ‘Just going for a run, Babe,’ he said in Starsky’s ear.  He found his running shorts and shoes, used the bathroom quickly, and headed out.

This would be the real test, he thought, if he could run down a street in Duluth and not freak out.  It was just a street in a city, and had no power over him for good or for ill.  The men he had graciously allowed to pick him up and pay him for blowjobs had not been waiting all these years to grab him for round two.  That scared, hungry, desperate kid still lived inside him and always would, but he was none of those things now, and no one else could see the ghost of that kid running along the street, only the strong, authoritative man who had replaced him.  No car would roll up silently out of the mist and drag him away to Hell.

There was no mist, but there was a car.  It began to follow him a block after he left the hotel, as if it had been waiting. There were three men inside.  What did they think they could do?  It was broad daylight in downtown Duluth, and Hutch was no helpless victim.

‘Faggot!’ one of the men in the car yelled out.  For God’s sake!  Where did these people get the idea that word had any real power?  As if he were going to turn to dust and blow away at the bugle call of their righteous heterosexuality. 

‘Faggot!’  It was an out-of-state license plate.  South Dakota.  Hutch quickly memorized the number, the colour and make of the car, and the dealer.  Filed the info under M for morons.  He looked around and there it was: the little park he’d noticed yesterday.  In the bright morning sun, it was filled with kids playing on the swings under the watchful eyes of parents or nannies.  Other people jogging.  People walking their dogs.  Nice public place for a gay bashing, thought Hutch.  Let’s see how brave and/or stupid you are.  He ran at his own easy pace, and crossed the street into the park as if nothing were amiss.

The car didn’t turn around and leave.  It stopped and two of the occupants got out.  Okay, thought Hutch, you are too stupid to live.  He thought about the bands of warrior lovers in ancient Greece.  Their hypermasculinity and denigration of women was not attractive, but still they stirred his soul.  He faced his attackers, so his wounds would all be in front, for to turn and run would be the greatest shame if they did manage to kill him and Starsky found him wounded from behind like a coward.  How far would these jerks go in front of witnesses?

Hutch grinned his best shark-like grin.  ‘Hi, guys,’ he snarled.  ‘Looking for a little exercise?’

 ‘Yeah, Pansy Ass Libtard Faggot,’ sneered one of the Morons. ‘We’re going to kick your ass back to Libtard California.’

‘Good luck with that,’ said Hutch, groaning a little at the dialogue.  Then the Morons were closing in, trying to take him down so they could kick him with their heavy boots.  All Starsky’s advanced training in Krav Maga kicked in instead.  The Morons got in a blow or two, but Hutch was holding his own.

‘Hey!’ Someone was shouting from the path.  Two of the dog walkers had noticed the altercation.  ‘What’s going on there?’

Hutch didn’t have time to answer, but the dog walkers kept shouting and started to run toward him.  Their dog was big and black and didn’t look like a lap dog.  More like a Doberman of all things.  Hutch landed a blow that sent one of his attackers to the ground, and the Doberman nearly broke free of her leash, yapping with joy at the possibility of eating someone for breakfast. 

Hutch’s attackers got to their feet and ran for the car, piling in beside the driver, who took off fast. 

‘You okay?’ asked one of the men with the Doberman. 

‘I’m fine, but thanks for your support.’

‘You’re bleeding a little,’ one of the men noticed.

‘Ah.  It’s superficial.  I’ll be okay.’  The Doberman was looking off into the distance, as if imagining she had caught the gay-bashers and was about to eat them after all.  ‘What’s her name?’ asked Hutch.

‘Purl,’ said the man who held her leash.  ‘As in Knit and Purl.’ He was tall and blond, like so many men in Minnesota.

Hutch grinned.  ‘Okay.  Listen, is this sort of thing usual in Duluth these days?  I mean, here in the open, and not in dark alleys behind gay bars after dark?’

‘Not exactly usual,’ said the other man.  He was tall, but brunet.  A touch of red in his hair.  ‘I’ve never seen an attack in such a public place.  But they have been growing more frequent again.’

‘They seemed to know who I was,’ Hutch murmured. 

‘Hmmm,’ the blond man commented.  ‘Weren't you in the Advocate a few weeks ago? I'm sure I remember you.’

‘Yes, but it’s like they were waiting for me.  Like someone told them…. look, are you in a hurry to get somewhere?  Could I buy you a coffee?  I’m staying at the Aristocrat, just up the street, with my husband. If you have the time, I’d like to get some information about the current situation in Duluth from you.  If you’re busy….’

‘We’re on vacation,’ said the brunet.  ‘Just out walking our dog.  We’d be honoured to have coffee with you.’

‘I’m on vacation too,’ said Hutch.  ‘Starsky’s going to flip when he sees blood on my T-shirt, so I’ll soften him up by buying him coffee too.  I guess I’ll have to let him get the fanciest drink they have.  God…. marshmallows?  Chocolate sprinkles?  Whatever he wants.’

The blond guy chuckled. 'That's usually wise,' he said.

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

 

There were times when Starsky thought Hutch was sent from God as an experiment to see how much frustration he could tolerate before going crazy – and this was one of those times.  It looked as though the answer was ‘not very long’.

On the one hand, Hutch was the most beautiful man he’d ever met, let alone got to sleep with every night for years.  Hutch was a passionate lover, gentle and fierce by turns, so Starsky didn’t know the meaning of boredom in bed.  Hutch was brilliant, witty, charming – and infuriating.  He was brave and insanely reckless to boot. 

So, Hutch goes out jogging in his hometown where we know he has enemies right in his own family.  His enemies learn he is here in town, and the very next day he’s attacked by gay-bashers. Can this be a coincidence, people?  Not bloody likely. 

So, what does Hutch decide to do?  The sensible thing, like report the attack to the police and then head for home?  Of course not.

‘Look, Starsk.  You want another coffee?  A refill of that one, or you wanna try something different this time?  Mocha, with Peppermint sprinkles?’

‘Quit tryin’ to appease me, Hutchinson.  I can’t be appeased.’

‘I’m not trying to appease you.’

‘The hell you’re not.’

‘I just don’t want to have this argument in public.  These nice guys who helped rescue me from gay-bashers didn’t expect to end up involved in a domestic argument….’

‘Sorry, Nice Guys,’ said Starsky.  ‘I appreciate you rescuing my idiot husband, here.  We’re not arguing, I’m pointing out his idiocy.  And I’m not unsympathetic to his handicap.  He can’t help it.  He’s blond.’

Chad, the redheaded Nice Guy, chuckled.  ‘I know what you mean,’ he said. 

‘All this anti-blond bigotry,’ said Adam, his blond Nice Guy boyfriend, rolling his eyes.

‘Oh, I’m not anti-blond,’ said Starsky.  ‘Far from it.  I appreciate his blondness.  It’s natural, you know -- goes all the way down. The blondness, I mean.’ 

Hutch made a growling noise.  ‘I deep throat, too,’ he said.

Chad grinned.  ‘So’s mine.’

‘Okay, guys,’ said Starsky.  ‘Can we be serious for a moment?’

‘You, Starsk?  Serious?’

‘Yeah, Hutch.  Me serious. I don’t think we should just ignore this.’

‘Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.’

‘Huh?  What’s that from?  The Art of War?’

‘Nope. Napoleon Bonaparte.  Look, Starsk.  I want to find out who it was that ran that camp.  You know that.  I also want to know what’s going on here in Duluth now.  Because I don’t think those people are finished.  They were serious. Deadly serious.’

‘Um…, what’s going on, guys?  If I can ask?’

‘Sure, you can ask, Chad,’ said Hutch.  ‘That’s why I invited you to have coffee with us.  Duluth is my home town. I came out to my parents when I was a kid, and they sent me to a gay conversion camp nearby.  Half killed me.’

‘Did it work?  Sorry, Ken.  Got a weird sense of humour.’

‘You’re forgiven, Adam.  No, it didn’t work.  Thank God. But anyway… we came here the other day to visit my grandmother, and the homophobes started crawling out of the woodwork.  This morning, for example.’

‘I don’t think it’s a coincidence, Hutch.’

‘Me neither, Starsk.  Those guys this morning knew who I was. They said they’d kick me back to California.  That’s a mistake, Starsk, because no one can kick me anywhere.  I’m gonna appear to ignore them, like it’s beneath my notice, and see what they have planned as an encore.’

‘Hutch.’

‘Starsky.  I’m deadly serious, too.  I want to put all the pieces together.  The camps, the increase in homophobia around the world lately.  I’m not going to sit back and wait for the tide to turn until we find ourselves fighting for our lives. 

‘What…what do you think we can do, Ken?’ asked Chad.  He looked a little pale.

‘Hey!  Don’t worry.  I’m not expecting you guys to join me on my quest to tilt at windmills.  Starsky… well he’s kinda committed, poor fool, but….’

‘There are compensations, Hutch, as I pointed out a moment ago.’

‘Okay. But you guys… all I want is some information.  What the atmosphere is like here in Duluth for us.  Has it changed?  That kind of thing.  I’ll give you my email address, if you’d agree to send me updates later when I go home.  I haven’t been keeping up with local news.  Not for years. So, I’d appreciate it. But being seen with me might draw attention to you.’

‘Oh, don’t worry about that,’ said Adam.  ‘We’re out of the closet.  Full out.  We’ve been campaigning for equal marriage, and a lot of the straights here don’t like that.’

‘I bet,’ said Starsky.

 


	15. Chapter 15

 

Grandmother was just coming out of her suite when they were on their way up to see her.  She gave Hutch a shocked look.

‘It wasn’t Starsky,’ Hutch protested, pointing at his bruised jaw. 

‘I’ve sometimes wanted to clock him,’ said Starsky.  ‘But that would be spousal abuse, so I’d never do it.’

‘Yeah, he’s waiting until the divorce, and in the meantime, he amuses himself by calling me a dumb blond.’

‘Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.’

Grandmother looked back and forth between the two of them.  ‘Okay. Come on in out of the cold and join me for coffee.  I was heading to your rooms to invite you anyway.’

‘Oh, we just had coffee,’ said Hutch.  ‘Starsky had about a dozen cappuccinos.’

‘It was two, but never mind,’ said Starsky.  ‘Hutch loves to exaggerate my greed.’

‘So, who did hit you?’ asked Grandmother, as Starsky and Hutch threw themselves down side by side on the sofa. 

‘It’s nothing.  A couple of gay bashers at the park down the street.’

‘In broad daylight?’  Grandmother was astonished.

‘Yeah.  I can’t figure that out.  Some kind of demonstration?  A commercial?’

‘Huh?’ said Starsky.

‘They were demonstrating their power.  To me, maybe.  Or to someone else.  This is what macho heterosexuals do?  I don’t know, Starsky.  We’d have to ask them.  I don’t have the time.’

‘Me neither, Babe.  So, what do we do next?’

‘I’m not running away, Starsk. Not right now.  I can’t.  I can’t be scared out of my own hometown twice in a row.’

‘I get it, but Hutch…. Isn’t this what we always point out to victims of crimes and stalking and so on?  That risking your life for your pride doesn’t make sense?’

‘I don’t think I’m risking my life, Starsk.  I’m not suggesting we move here, and I won’t go out jogging alone again.  Okay?  I’m just not going to run away like that scared little boy I was all those years ago.  I’m not going to be intimidated.’

‘Okay.  But I don’t want to hang around here worrying about some creep attacking you again in broad daylight. They don’t seem to be intimidated either.’

‘Fair enough.  I’ll stick with you and Grandmother….’

‘And Adam and Chad?’

‘And their Doberman.’

‘Yeah, Grandmother, Hutch made some new friends.  I think he likes them.’

‘I think you’re jealous,’ said Hutch.  ‘Adam and Chad are okay, but it’s really Purl I like.’

‘Your perversions never end,’ Starsky stated. 

Grandmother choked on her coffee. 

‘Aha!’ said Starsky.  ‘I finally got back at you!  I did!  After all those times yesterday you made me choke!’

‘You two are going to be the death of me,’ said Hutch.  ‘And Purl is female, so I guess that’s an improvement to some people.’

‘Kenneth Hutchinson!  Would you mind giving your poor old grandmother a lucid account of this gay bashing incident?  Just for the record, and to stave off the headache I feel is developing.’

‘I’m sorry, Grandmother.  I went for a run, and some gay bashers followed me in their car. They attacked me in the park and a couple of gay men, who were walking their Doberman, helped to scare the attackers off, though I was holding my own up until then.  That’s it.’

‘That’s it?  Were there no other people in the park?’

‘Well yes, but none of them were damaged.’

‘I meant, didn’t anyone other than those two young gay men try to help?’

Hutch looked surprised.  ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted.  ‘I didn’t even notice, and I didn’t expect anyone to help.  Don’t worry.  I’m fine.  Probably could have managed all on my own, anyway.’

‘Okay,’ said Grandmother.  ‘I’ll take your word for it.’ 

There was a knock on her suite door.  ‘Come in,’ called Grandmother.  It was Lottie Warren and Lucy Erickson.  Lucy was carrying a large metal storage box, and Lottie had an armload of files. 

‘Ah, good,’ said Grandmother.  ‘Now we can settle some matters, so I can sleep better at night.  And please don’t argue with me over this stuff.  It’s just money, just material possessions, and I can’t take it with me.  If it doesn’t go to you, Ken, it will go to the government or to my son, and I’d rather it goes to you, okay?  Is that clear?’

‘Yes, Grandmother.’

‘Ah.  That’s better.  Now, let’s start with a few material possessions.  Lucy?  Could you open the box for me?  Thankyou, dear.’  She fished around in the box and took something out that looked like a watch case.  ‘You remember your grandfather’s watch?’ she asked Hutch.

‘Oh, yes, I always loved seeing it on his wrist.  I used to think it gave him the power to run the world.’

Grandmother opened the watch case, and handed the watch to him.  ‘It’s yours now,’ she said.

‘It looks…. even more beautiful than I remembered,’ said Hutch.

‘That’s a Rolex,’ said Starsky, with awe in his voice. ‘They’re worth a fortune.’

‘A Rolex Submariner, with an 18-carat gold bracelet,’ said Grandmother.  ‘I gave it to Svend for his birthday, many years ago. But Rolexes don’t wear out.  This one certainly hasn’t.’

Hutch smiled down at the watch he now held in his hands.  ‘I don’t think any inheritance could give me more happiness,’ he said.  ‘I thought it was magical, and it is.  I know just where it belongs.’

He took Starsky’s right hand, and slid it up his wrist. 

 


	16. Chapter 16

 

Starsky sat beside Hutch and stared at his own wrist as if he’d never seen it before.  Well, certainly he’d never seen it like this.  The watch that now decorated it was beautiful and breathtakingly expensive, and he’d never thought to see such a thing permanently attached to any part of his body.  Permanently because he’d never take it off as long as he lived, even in the shower.  Grandmother had assured him it was safe to wear if he went deep sea diving, unless he went further down than 300 meters -- that was 1,000 feet! -- and since he’d never do any such thing…. Well, he was sure he could leave it on in the shower. 

But it wasn’t only the beauty and strength of the watch that left him speechless.  Hutch had said he loved the watch, and thought it could control the world, and it was the inheritance that made him the happiest – and he’d given it to Starsky, in front of witnesses.  If it had been a cheap Timex that Hutch loved, and he’d given it to Starsky, Starsky would have defended it with his life.  Starsky looked at his wrist and knew that Hutch had given him his heart. 

‘Starsk?  Starsk?  David Starsky?’

‘Huh?’  Starsky woke up from his dream-like state. 

‘Starsk, Lottie is talking to you.’  Hutch was chuckling.

‘Oh!  Sorry, Lottie.  I didn’t hear you.’

‘That’s okay, David.  I have a cheque here for you from Victoria.  She wants you to have it.’

‘Oh!  Thanks, Grandmother.  That’s very generous.  Thanks.’    Starsky looked blindly at the piece of paper that meant nothing to him.  He smiled, like it made sense.  Nodded at Grandmother and said ‘Thanks!’ again. Tucked the cheque into his wallet.  Smiled at everyone, and went back to staring at his wrist.  The watch was still there.  It was self-winding, he was told.  Perpetually, meaning forever.  Hutch had given it to him.  Forever.  The blue watch face made him think of Hutch’s eyes….

‘Starsk?  Starsk?  David Starsky!’

‘Huh?  Oh!  Sorry, Hutch.  I’m out of it.’  Really out of it, because it appeared that Lucy and Lottie were no longer among them.

‘I can tell,’ said Hutch.  ‘I’m just going to change out of these shorts.  We’re going for a drive with Grandmother.  She wants to talk to you while I’m changing.’

‘Good idea,’ said Starsky.  Because if he and Hutch were alone in a room right now….   Starsky ignored Hutch’s sweet smile and stared straight ahead, willing himself not to think about anything but deep-sea diving.  In icy water.  Shark infested icy water.

‘David?’

‘Oh!  Sorry, Grandmother.  I can’t seem to pay attention to anything right now.’

Grandmother smiled sweetly.  Her smile was like Hutch’s.  Warm and comforting.  ‘I understand,’ she said.  ‘I… we haven’t had a moment alone, and I wanted to tell you… I think of you as one of the family already.  You may not want to be part of the family, but….’

‘I love being part of Hutch’s family. Even more after meeting Barbara, and now you. All families have….’

‘Bad apples?’

‘Maybe.  I don’t understand Hutch’s parents.  Couldn’t figure out his mother at all, yesterday.  She’s had years to accept Hutch.  At the very least, you’d think she could accept him, if not understand him. She does seem to love him, in a way.’

‘In a way.  Yes.  But we can talk about that later.  I wanted to talk about you, just for a few minutes alone.’

‘Oh.  Grandmother, the way Hutch and me were talking earlier… It’s just our way.  It means nothing.’

‘Sweetheart!  I know that.  I knew from the moment I saw the two of you together.  Ken looked transfigured.  The last time I saw him, he was like a zombie.  You’ve been so good for him.  That’s why.  The cheque, I mean.  I don’t want you to think of it as a payment, or a reward.  I’m worried… we don’t know what the future might be.  Ken’s parents, that group they belong to…. Who knows what might happen if they took over.’

‘Hutch and me… we worry sometimes what might happen if one of us were sick, really sick, or badly injured.  We’re Domestic Partners, and we hold each other’s Power of Attorney.  If Hutch were sick or hurt I can make sure his wishes are carried out, and visit him in his hospital room without question.  But yeah, what if the laws changed?  Or we were in a state where it didn’t apply?  What if….’

‘If his parents got control of him somehow?  Yes.  That’s one reason why I gave you that money.  Money is power.’

‘Yes.  Hutch doesn’t like that money is power.  He’s an idealist, a White Knight.  I adore that in him.  But, I need to take care of him, you know?’

‘I know, and I’m glad you know.  He reminds me of Svend, so I know.  Having the love of someone like Svend, or Ken, is a beautiful thing, full of joys and rewards.  But it means we must keep guard on our hearts, on our place beside them.  We can never take them for granted.’

‘I agree,’ said Starsky.  ‘And I would never take Hutch for granted.’

‘What are you two plotting behind my back?’ asked Hutch from the doorway. 

‘Your total downfall,’ said Starsky.  ‘I’m gonna make you my slave.’

‘You and what army?’

‘Hah!  What you don’t know would surprise you.’

‘Well, Grandmother?  Do I meet with your approval now?’

Hutch looked gorgeous in black slacks and a blue shirt, open casually at the neck. 

‘Yes, my dear.  You pass inspection.  So, when Lucy gets back from the bank again, we can head out.’

‘Where are we going, again?’

‘Be patient, Ken.  You’ll see.’

Ken paced around the room, rather impatiently, but eventually he came over to join Starsky on the sofa.  They looked at each other.  Hutch’s eyes were much bluer and brighter than the expensive watch face, thought Starsky, but the resemblance was sweet. When they were apart, he could always remind himself of the blue of Hutch’s eyes, and the true-blue nature of his heart. 

‘I thought we might stay here just another day or two, then head out to Harvard.  Would you like to see where I went to University?’

‘Sure,’ said Starsky.  I’d follow you through Death Valley on foot with no water, he thought.

Hutch stroked the watch on Starsky’s wrist.  ‘I loved it when Grandad wore this watch,’ he said.  ‘Now I can see it again, every day.’

‘I’ll never take it off,’ said Starsky. 

‘I wish Grandad had been wearing it that day,’ said Hutch.  ‘He pretty much stopped wearing it in public later in life because he was nervous about being attacked by thieves.  I used to think that maybe he wouldn’t have died if he’d had it on.’ He added, softly, ‘Maybe none of it would have happened.’

Starsky opened his mouth to ask how Hutch’s grandad had died, and what Hutch meant by that statement.  But then Lucy came back from her trip to the bank to return the storage box.  They all piled into the elevator and descended to the street level and the waiting taxi. 

‘So,’ said Hutch.

‘Are we there yet?’ Grandmother finished for him.

Hutch clicked his tongue.  ‘Sorry,’ he added.

‘So much Minnesota Nice, but not enough Minnesota Patience.’

‘Is that even a thing?’

‘Well, if it's not, it should be.  But I think impatience is an LA thing, isn’t it?’

‘A New Yorker thing for sure,’ said Starsky. 

‘We’re coming up on our destination now,’ said Grandmother.  ‘Your terrible wait is over.’

Their destination turned out to be a garage. ‘Now, see, I have stored your Grandad’s old car here for years.  As you know, Ken, your Grandad liked older cars.’

Starsky snorted.  Like grandfather, like grandson, he thought.

‘This one was his last.  It was not in too bad shape, though, and I’ve kept it tuned up.’

‘Okay,’ said Hutch.  He looked like he wanted to say something more, but shrugged and followed his grandmother and Lucy into the garage.  Starsky trailed along behind.

There was an old blue car, that turned out to be a Mercedes of course, stored off in a corner.  ‘It’s too old to be worth much today, even if it was expensive once,’ Grandmother noted.  ‘It’s not old enough to be an antique, and it’s had a lot of hard use.  But I know you don’t care about that.  I figured you’d love having Svend’s car. That’s why I’ve kept it all these years.  What do you think?’

Hutch was stroking the car reverently.  ‘I think it would love to be out on the road again,’ he said.

Starsky said something in agreement, but he was distracted by another car nearby, still under a protective cover.  Grandmother came up to him, chuckling a little.  ‘Now, I thought this was more your speed,’ she said. 

Hutch noticed what they were looking at.  ‘Grandmother?  Don’t tell me you kept your car, too.’

‘Well, my dear.  Of course I did.  And I think your husband here and I have the same sort of taste in cars as we do in men, don’t you.  Take the cover off, David.  Go on!’

Starsky pulled off the cover. Under it was another older car, but much different in style.  It was bright red, with a white stripe down the side.

‘It’s a Ford Gran Torino,’ said Grandmother.  ‘I used to be pretty hot stuff behind the wheel in my day.  But I’m getting too old now.  What do you think?  Huh?’

Hutch groaned.  ‘I knew it.  It’s the little old lady from Duluth, Minnesota,’ he said.  ‘Terrorizing everyone in her Striped Tomato.’

‘Not any longer,’ said Grandmother.  ‘David? You want the keys?’

 

 


End file.
